Civil Society as a Terrain of Struggles: Understanding Illiberal Dynamics through the Agency of Regime-Aligned Civic Organizations

Changing civil society dynamics are often interpreted as the state’s encroachment upon an autonomous sphere of democratic activity, presumed to be respected by liberal democratic regimes but violated by illiberal ones. The paper argues that such a normative autonomy/encroachment framework overlooks how illiberal civil society configurations are actively shaped by conflicts and structures carried over from liberal regimes. Through a systematic comparison of organization–state relationships across liberal and illiberal periods, using the case of a Hungarian conservative civic organization, the National Association of Large Families, the study uncovers underlying patterns of illiberal civil society. Adopting a longitudinal and historically informed perspective that foregrounds the agency of actors aligned with the illiberal regime, this study develops a typology of changing state–civil society interactions. The analysis demonstrates how Central and Eastern Europe’s distinctive historical experience—marked by the transition from state socialism to liberal democracy, intertwined with neoliberal globalization—continues to shape the strategies of civic actors under illiberal rule, offering insights of global relevance for civil society studies and civic organizations seeking to counter illiberal regimes.